I have always had a soft spot for simple abstract works that remind me of Mark Rothko, and certain other abstract expressionists. I recently came across the work of Harriet Bellows via another blog.
Her work is beautifully simple. Space, minimal figures and abstract forms inhabit her minimal compositions.
Bellows has a background in dance which for the last thirty years has influenced her approach to space and movement within the pictorial frame. Colour plays an integral part in her paintings and tone applied in gestural marks and subtle perspectives creates the wonderful languid movement in her pictures giving her work an emotional quality that is honest and full of life.
Her figurative drawings are relaxed and playful. Her line reminds me of Egon Schiele's figurative works. They have been drawn on an iPad. This is the first time I have come across this. David Hockney is the only artist I have ever hear of who uses this medium for his practice, and that is mostly because of his age as it is easier for him. I guess in my ignorance I figured it was a practice unique unto him until I came across Bellows. She uses her drawings as a basis for her paintings.
"The groundwork for my art has developed around a sense of structure, line, balance, and color. My involvement with layers of paint, ideas of volume, space and the interaction of these elements has established a platform. Within this context one of my greatest considerations deals with the honesty of simplicity and the demands associated with it." - Harriet Bellows
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